BAGHDAD  On a recent Monday morning at the Iraq Stock Exchange, investors yammer into cell phones as about 30 traders on the floor scribble orders, study boards for stock prices or stand casually smoking cigarettes.

The scene doesn't match the frenetic pace of the New York Stock Exchange or the Chicago Board of Trade. This is Baghdad, after all. But the activity is a good sign for those who are trying to shore up the country's financial institutions despite the daily violence carried out by insurgents.

"Financial institutions and markets make our economy grow again," says Taha Ahmed Abdul Salam, the exchange's chief operating officer. "You can't do business unless you have good banks and good capital markets."

The Baghdad Stock Exchange opened in 1992, but under Saddam Hussein's regime it was heavily regulated. Exchange spokeswoman Jaimy Afham says stocks traded within a specific price range. The exchange closed amid the chaos after the collapse of Saddam's regime.

The exchange, renamed the Iraq Stock Exchange, reopened last June under the supervision of the Coalition Provisional Authority, Salam says. It started with 15 listed companies trading about 1 billion Iraqi dinars ($683,000) in shares daily, he says. Today, the exchange lists 89 companies and averages about $2 million in daily trading, he says.

A law created last year allows foreign investors to deal in Iraqi stocks and has encouraged trading, Salam says. The market subsequently was boosted by an influx of capital from Iraqi exiles and a recent increase in disposable income driven by higher government salaries, Afham says.

But challenges remain. As is the case elsewhere in Iraq, security remains a key concern, he says. The exchange, open twice a week for 2½ hours a day, is purposely located on the ground floor of a small building on a nondescript side street, which can be blocked to deter car bombs.

The floor where the stocks are traded is also less than high-tech. Each listed company writes its stock deals on dry-erase boards: sales on the front, purchases on the back. A circled transaction signals a done deal. Salam says he plans to move into more high-tech digs later this year, complete with electronic trading and a network that allows brokers to trade from their offices.

The threat of car bombs and the lack of an electronic ticker don't stop investor Habeeb Yako Toma. He visits the exchange twice a week. Bank transfers are still slow, and he says he is often forced to ferry money in bags between banks and the exchange.

Nevertheless, he says he is optimistic about the emerging market's future. "The market has been steadily rising since the end of the war," Toma says. "Some days, you even make a profit."